Join us as we welcome the arrival of spring in Los Angeles with a spring Tamalada at Mama’s Hot Tamale Café. We will gather to experience a fun-filled and convivial morning of tamale-making, cooking, and eating under the expert supervision of some of the finest local purveyors of this extraordinary food.

The humble tamale is one of the world’s most ancient foods, dating back over 5,000 years to the pre-Columbian era. In many ways basically unchanged from it ancestral origins, this amazingly versatile food nevertheless assumes a dazzling array of shapes, sizes, and flavors. Found in indigenous and Hispanic cultures in all of the Americas, there is no better way to explore the mystery of this enduring staple of human civilization than to make them yourself! You can’t go wrong when you’re in the hands of the pros!

When: Sunday, April 5, 2009 from 10:00am-1:00pmWhere: Mama’s Hot Tamale Café, 2122 West 7th Street, Los Angeles 90057 (a half a block west of Alvarado St., and directly across the southern border of MacArthur Park)Cost: $45.00 for Slow Food members; $50.00 for nonmembers; $15 for children under 15. Price includes tamale-making workshop, lunch, tax, and tip. You will be provided containers to bring your tamales home with you.

Class and lunch is limited to 35 people. Well behaved children accompanied by an adult are welcome.
Reservations: Two steps:
First, to RESERVE, send an email to judibikel [at] aol [dot] com with your name, contact information, and the number in your party.
Then, to CONFIRM, buy ticket(s) through Brown Paper Tickets.

Confirmations are on a first-come, first-paid basis. Ticket purchases take priority over unpaid reservations. No refunds will be issued unless the event is canceled.

About Mama’s Hot Tamales:
Mama’s Hot Tamale Café™ is an apprentice-operated business and job training restaurant that provides hands-on and classroom instruction designed to train low-and-moderate-income vendors in the disciplines necessary to begin a career path toward success in the culinary world.
Participants acquire the knowledge, abilities, and skills to pursue opportunities in the food service and hospitality industry as bakers, cooks, caterers, hosts, restaurant owners or managers, waiters/waitresses, or permitted sidewalk vendors. Featuring authentic presentations of regional dishes from throughout the Americas, this unique dining experience engages patrons as valuable participants in the education training process of our future culinary professionals.

Denise Aronow notes: “Don’t want to drive and hassle parking? Mama’s is extremely easy to reach by transit from the MTA Red/Purple Line: Get off at MacCarthur Park Station, walk South on Alvarado one-half block (Langers Deli) and West one-half block on 7th Street from the Station. $5.00 buys you a day pass good on all trains and buses. If you want to come through Union Station on Metrolink Saturday trains your ticket is good for a free transfer to the Red/Purple line.” Thanks, Denise!